In the dark light of a basement, a dozen flawlessly brushed young guys stoop in rows, calling out their names.
Muscle, with shiny boy-band hairstyles, they cram alongside right into the narrow area, waiting for us to make our selection. Outdoors in the passage, more of their coworkers are arriving for another night at job. It is 2am, and we are their initial clients.
Covert under the pavements of Seoul's ritziest postal code, Gangnam, the men at Bar 123 belong to an expanding sector, which outgrew the long customs of Japanese geisha and also Korea's kisaeng residences yet with one important difference - the clients right here are all ladies.
Understood as "host bars", these all-night drinking rooms supply female customers the possibility to pay and choose for male companions, in some cases at a price of thousands of pounds a night.
Among the women I fulfill at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing manager for a first-class hotel. Once or twice a month, she says she comes to host bars.
Minkyoung is extremely pretty as well as her clothing are immaculate. She does not look like someone that would need to spend for male company. But the appeal of host bars can be refined. Below, she claims, she has more interest from her male companions, even more option and also, most importantly, more control.
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" In routine bars the people that drink with me have just one goal - to have an one-night stand. Yet I do not desire that, to ensure that's why I come below, I desire to enjoy," she states.
Hosts are hired by bars such as this one to supply friendship and also amusement. Officially that means putting drinks for their clients, speaking and dancing with them, as well as vocal singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not officially on offer in a lot of host bars. That would certainly be prohibited however also Minkyoung appears satisfied to touch and tease with her host, as well as the guys right here estimate that around half the clients intend to spend for sex, either on or off the properties.
James has been functioning at Bar 123 for a number of years. In Korean culture, he says, there is a lot of satisfaction and also working out a price for sex is never ever done explicitly. Instead, he informs me, it is all to the host's very own analysis.
" The men right here are pros - we understand what we're doing," he claims.
" After speaking to a girl for an hour we generally understand exactly how much cash she makes and what she provides for a living. We've already analysed her individuality and also what she agrees to offer."
James and also various other hosts state their customers consist of some of South Korea's elite, which the money and also benefits available boggle the mind. One client James fulfilled, during his initial week in the work, asked him to sign himself over to her for two years.
" She stated 'allow's make a contract. I've obtained this notepad and also I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you jot down next to those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James states at the time he took it as a joke yet given that located out the exact same woman invested 60,000 ($ 97,000) on one more host.
" If it happened now, Iwould certainly do it - Iwould certainly be believing straight.".
Paradoxically maybe, host bars outgrew among Korea's most established and also, some say, misogynist service customs - the space hair salon. These are private drinking areas where teams of guys select, and also are offered by, attractive women hostesses.
It was the people hosting' requirement to let off heavy steam after work, states veteran host Kim Dong-hee, that created the initial demand for host bars, with all-male staff.
" What these hostesses desire is to [make us] do the very same point they needed to perform in their own work environment. These women are forced to do things they do not desire to provide for money.
" I assume a great deal of them are in discomfort, and also a great deal feel lonesome. Simply put, they desire to buy our time as well as our bodies.".
People hosting still make up a large percent of the clients at host bars here, but at Bar 123, for instance, as much as 40% of the consumers on an offered evening are currently from other walks of life.
The factors for that growing appeal are locked up in South Korea's quick economic rise. Within 50 years, the country shifted from post-war destruction to OECD participant.
However, according to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something vital was lost in the process.
" I believe that with all this fast growth comes fast change, as well as Koreans just don't know exactly how to manage it. Increasingly, industrialism is overtaking basic societal norms that you would anticipate a number of years back.".
Jasper Kim states South Korea's infamously lengthy working hours have left many Korean ladies really feeling lonesome, while the country's technological advance has actually left many individuals really feeling separated.
" The human component of Korean society that existed before merely does not exist today. People are concentrated on modern technology, people are concentrated on their jobs, they aren't concentrated on human relationships any longer.
" In numerous methods, Korean culture today type of advises me of 1960s society in the US, where it's on the verge of some kind of social revolution.".
The grandfather of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, concurs that a lot of the ladies that come to host bars are not paying for sex but also for friendship, which is why he opened up a brand-new chain of freshly-marketed electrical outlets intended at the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
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Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch customers.
" Men want to have aesthetic satisfaction and wish to really feel points, they're responsive. Women like to chat and to listen. And that's why I thought about opening up a bar like this - a kind of discussion bar.".
Red Model Bars are different to standard host bars in one essential regard - there is a no-touching regulation. Hosts sit on one side of the table, consumers on the various other, and no physical get in touch with is permitted, and absolutely no sex.
Maybe therefore there is a lack of furtiveness amongst the people that function or consume below - the lights are low, the decor primarily dark red and also the room is split into discreet booths, but it is an open-plan area and also customers as well as hosts are separated in each booth by a huge table.
This brand-new business model depends totally on ladies paying the matching of hundreds and even hundreds of dollars to speak to fine-looking boys over a drink. Still, it seems to be working - three new branches are because of open this year.
Resting at a table at one end of bench was one of their regular consumers, a florist called Kim Nayu. She tells me she comes below every day to meet her much-loved host and also discuss problems she is having at work.
The rate for this slice of male attention is $487-650 ( 300-400) a day.
" Talking to buddies would certainly be cheaper" she confesses, "but they don't listen as much. They're hectic, and also in a rush to discuss themselves. Below, individuals will pay interest to me as well as they'll listen to me.".
" I spend a whole lot of money yet it's worth it wherefore I obtain mentally. People pay to go to see a psychologist or psychiatrist, so it's similar yet less difficult.".
Nayu's much-loved host Sung-il claims it can be difficult to maintain his personal and expert life different.
" Honestly I 'd be existing if I claim I have not been tempted to take things further with some consumers, due to the fact that we're human, we're men, however there are rules.".
Among his clients spoke a whole lot to her husband concerning him and also when the three of them fulfilled, Sung-il as well as the spouse ended up being friends.
" No one hides - the workers don't conceal that they work below, and clients can be open too.".
This visibility is posturing a brand-new kind of obstacle to South Korean society, different from the in some cases shabby abyss of conventional host bars and their hinterland of male hooking.
By supplying ladies a "reputable" way to challenge standard sex roles and also flex their financial power, these new bars ask inquiries of Korean culture that are becoming tougher to neglect.
Hear the full record on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can pay attention via the Radio 4 website or through the Crossing Continents podcast.
The attraction of host bars can be subtle. Here, she claims, she has even more attention from her male friends, even more option and, crucially, more control.
James has actually been functioning at Bar 123 for a couple of years. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's very own evaluation.
As well as that's why I believed of opening a bar like this - a kind of discussion bar.".
